Cardiac receptors, vasopressin, and corticosteroid release during arterial hypotension in dogs.

The relative roles of cardiopulmonary and sinoaortic baroreceptors in the regulation of vasopressin and corticosteroid release were evaluated in conscious dogs. The dogs were prepared with inflatable cuffs around either the ascending aorta, proximal to the brachiocephalic trunk, or the pulmonary artery. Inflation of the cuffs was adjusted to cause a reduction of mean systemic arterial pressure (MAP) of 0, 5, 10, 20, or 30% of control for 1 h in separate experiments. In spite of the profound systemic hypotension caused by constriction of the ascending aorta, plasma vasopressin failed to increase and corticosteroids increased only in response to a 30% decrease in MAP. In contrast, a 5% reduction in MAP during pulmonary arterial constriction increased plasma vasopressin and corticosteroid concentrations significantly. The apparent paradox in these results is correlated with different effects of the two maneuvers on left atrial pressure. Left atrial pressure increased dose dependently during inflation of the ascending aortic cuff but decreased during inflation of the pulmonary arterial cuff. In contrast, graded inflation of the pulmonary arterial cuff caused dose-dependent increases in right atrial pressure, plasma vasopressin, and corticosteroids. Therefore, we conclude that powerful inhibitory signals, arising from the left heart, can inhibit vasopressin and hypotension release in response to systemic hypotension.